Terms of Service

Effective from: 25 March 2021

Definitions

In the following terms and conditions "we" and "us" refer to Write Online, whose business details can be found on the website writeonline.io.

"You" is any person, company or entity that has contracted us, by means of a written instruction (including instruction by email), verbal agreement or payment of a deposit requested in a quotation provided by us, to provide content and/or related services.

You agree to all the following terms and conditions below and acknowledge you have the authority to do so on behalf of your organisation:

  1. In the event of any conflict between your written quotation and these terms, the terms of the quotation will take precedence to the extent of the conflict.

  2. All relevant decision makers must be either present at our initial consultation or declared at the outset of the project. We reserve the right to renegotiate our terms in the event of any input from those not initially involved in the project. This is to protect your timescale and budget against scope creep that happens when new voices are added to your project.

Revisions

  1. The following is included in your fee:

    • Initial delivery of your content.

    • Two rounds of revisions, subject to the conditions set out in 4 and 5 below.

But the following isn't included in your fee:

  • Any work that doesn't come within the original brief.

  • Work outside the scope implied by the content format requested, such as direct sales messages for inclusion in blog posts or white papers, unless agreed within the original brief.

  • Any remedial work you require us to make to your copy, following edits made by you, which introduce grammatical or factual errors, inconsistencies or other issues that we both agree may be detrimental to your content.

  • Any changes you request after you sign off the work or publish it – either in print or on your live website.

  1. Should revisions be necessary, please notify us within 14 days of receipt of your copy. They will then be completed promptly and without additional charge provided they do not constitute a fundamental change in the project.

  1. We provide a professional writing service and put careful thought and planning into your content. Your copy is also checked by a qualified proofreader, following editorial best practices. As a result, your revisions are only included in our fee provided you:

    • Do not micromanage the project.

    • Make only reasonable and justifiable interventions and change requests.

    • Limit the number of parties involved in reviewing your content to no more than two people.

    • Respect the timescales we allocate to your project.

    • Cooperate in making the review process as quick and efficient as possible.

Client Briefing and Expenses

  1. You agree to provide us with everything we need to complete your project, when we need it.

  2. You will ensure all background material you supply is free from computer viruses or other potentially harmful software.

  3. An initial client briefing to discuss your objectives is included in your fee. Unless provisions have been made in your quotation, further consultations will be charged at 50 GBP per hour + VAT and travel expenses where applicable.

  4. You are advised to read carefully all communication between you and us at the briefing stage to ensure both you and we are fully clear on the scope of the work that will be required.

  5. You will not be charged for minor administrative costs, such as for telephone calls or postage, involved in completing your project. You will be contacted in advance to obtain your approval for any additional costs.

Invoicing and Payments

  1. You agree to settle invoices within 28 days. But where we're unable to complete the work promptly through delays caused by you or a third party, and the delay is for more than 7 days, then we may reduce the settlement period to 14 days. Under the terms of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, we reserve the right to charge interest and compensation should an invoice remain outstanding beyond this period.

    Errors, technicalities or confusion relating to an invoice does not mean no debt exists and does not mean you have no obligation to pay anything until the issue has been cleared up.

  1. If you pay by a cheque that is subsequently returned by the bank, you will compensate us in full for all resulting bank charges.

  2. Should you cancel this project or place it on hold for any reason, we will retain your deposit and, where applicable, invoice you for the amount to cover the work completed to date.

    You should bear in mind that the amount may take account of our work involved in the briefing process, background research and other preparation, as this can take up to half of the time we spend on your project from start to content completion.

    If you dispute this amount then we reserve the right to use your content to date, along with any other documented material, as evidence in the event of any legal resolution process.

Rejection

  1. We'll endeavour to deliver work that meets your expectations and, as outlined above, we offer you two rounds of revisions to achieve that objective. If, however, you reject it then we maintain the right to charge the full amount we quoted for the work.

Errors and Omissions

  1. We take great care to ensure our output is free from errors and omissions – but do not make any guarantees. You are therefore advised to review your copy thoroughly before committing it to publication.

  2. Where you supply material, such as spreadsheet data, tables, graphs, calculations, formulae and diagrams, for use in your final content, we will complete any agreed repurposing work necessary to make it fit for publication provided such material is accurate and free from errors and omissions.

    If we subsequently find we cannot write your content because of inaccuracies, inconsistencies, errors or omissions in such material, we may in some circumstances take remedial steps, such as recalculation, redrawing or data restructuring, in order to deliver your content. If this is necessary to ensure your content is fit for purpose we reserve the right to limit the overall scope of the work we initially agreed for the price we quoted.

    Alternatively, if you prefer us to complete your content fully in line with your original brief, we will provide you with a revised quotation that takes into account additional work that was necessary owing to such inaccuracies, inconsistencies, errors or omissions.

Client Confidentiality

  1. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we will handle all sensitive information you send to us securely and not share it with any third party without your express permission. See our privacy notice for full details.

Agency Work

  1. If you're an agency acting on behalf of your own client, you are considered to be the client of Write Online and still subject to the terms and conditions set out in this document.

Copyright

  1. The copyright for the content we provide as part of this project will be transferred to you upon full and final payment for all work we have carried out to produce it.

Indemnity

  1. You agree to accept full responsibility for the end use of any copywriting services or counsel provided by us and to accept any liability that may arise anywhere in the world, including liability arising from copyright infringement and libel.

  2. We agree at your request to work with your legal advisor to ensure copy complies with applicable laws and regulations.

Derivative Content

  1. Many copywriting clients request content on similar lines. Therefore we are entitled to write derivatives of blog posts, articles, eBooks and white papers we have produced for you, provided they are significantly different from the original and not clearly identifiable as the same content.

  2. Notwithstanding our confidentiality obligations, we reserve the right to reuse any content you request but do not pay for. Likewise, in cases where you decide not to use your content, we may reuse the work unless you ask us not to do so at the time you make that decision.

Samples of Completed Work

  1. In the case where you have integrated the copy we've produced for you into a final design ready for its intended purpose, you agree to forward us a finished copy of the project, either as three printed samples or in an appropriate electronic format.

  2. We reserve the right to use the completed material to showcase our work, as well as display your company logo on our website, unless you explicitly request non-disclosure at the outset of the project.

Changes to Our Terms

  1. We will only notify you of any changes to our terms of service if you are a current or regular client of Write Online and there is a reasonable likelihood the changes would affect your dealings with us.